we’re back once again and starting the year off right, and that means starting off with some shows for the new year.
if you’re in the columbia, sc area come check out me and the secret b-sides at the elbow room feb. 6th. come thru and enjoy yo’self. more shows coming up and will be posted in the tours/shows/events section. be easy.
i’ve been listening to the new reflection eternal mixtape non-stop for the past couple of days. and to see one reunion get back on track, it’ll only be right to see blackstar get back.
biggups to my girl amelia from put me on it (my favorite blog) as i saw the new mos def video for ‘history’ on her page. it’s only right to give her the shout out. i love the video, i love the song. enjoy.
scott from asylum digital is my brother-from-another-mother and his band super ape is nothing less than awesome. they have a show jan. 9th (this saturday) at the visulite theater in charlotte, nc. do yourself a favor and be there. i know i will be.
sup yall? 2010 is shaping up to be a great year and this is another reason. i’m featured on HiPNOTT Records 2010 Takeover mixtape and it’ll be available jan. 11th. it’s to promote my upcoming project with helium music. more on that in the upcoming weeks. check out the youtube promo and hope you enjoy.
sup guys? hope all is well. like i posted a couple of days ago, me and the ‘maple st. sessions’ record was nominated for 3 sc online awards. we were nominated for: Album of the Year: Preach Jacobs & Denz “Maple St. Sessions”, Video of the Year: Preach Jacobs & Denz “Falling” and Slept on Artist of the Year: Preach Jacobs.
we won for best video as well as yours truly coming first runner up for most slept on (congrats to my boy akshun for taking the awards for that one). thanks to writersblockmedia.net, on point magazine, thelyfestyle.com, carolinahustle.com and higher learning.
thanks to everyone that contributed to the album and my music this past year, and best believe 2010 is gonna get crazy. for the list of all the winners check out here.
also if you haven’t peeped the video for ‘falling’ check it out here:
HNY yall. hope all is well. i know you guys are all out eating your black eyed peas and collard greens, but me on the other hand, i’m listening to new music (because i need some new music to keep things moving and not get stagnant with all the holiday eats). thankfully there’s the vibrant doll mixtape. we happen to be featured on there and i’m humbled and honored to be on such a dope project. download it and play it while you’re going to your granny and ‘ems house. tracklisting coming soon. peace and love.
Vibrant Doll Mixtape #1 Download
my record store went out of business in february 2009. i was sort hurt but not surprised. the record store is a dying breed (read my editorial ‘death of the american record store’) so it was inevitable. regardless, i was hit with fear and uncertainty. so, why would a newly unemployed record store guy decide to travel across the world two months later is beyond me. but, i’m glad i did it.
the trip offered a perspective that being in the states couldn’t explain. it was something that made me realize that the world is beyond north america, and that people love the music i’m doing worldwide. it’s equally fascinating and intimidating at the same time. especially coming from a background where my family doesn’t travel. a southern black background, we tend to stay put and have no desire in travel. maybe these are effects of a jim crow south that both of my parents grew up in, making it difficult to travel with ease if you were to go out of town. whatever the case maybe, i felt the effects of it.
i felt handicapped, the same way i feel about the hip-hop genre. handicapped but probably in its own mind. self-inflicted boundaries to keep you from experiencing pain or failure. the idea of a major label coming in and saving someone from financial turmoil is a dream that doesn’t exist for many artists anymore (i think drake will be the last new mega-ton-super-rapstar). so, in understanding this, i have to realize why i still do it.
when i interviewed dj babu (read interview here), he told me about how he sees his music. he said that during what would have been his college years, he was in the dj circuit battling, working on his craft. so, now years later if he needed a job, he couldn’t get your regular 9 to 5 because his school years was his music years. he said “this is all he has.” i didn’t take it as a desperation thing, i took it as an affirming thing, that “i want/need to do this. fuck everything else.”
i don’t think there’s a more healthy approach to have with your passion. i say that now, but when rent is in jeopardy of getting paid and bank accounts are in the negative, it gets tempting to opt for different forms of employment.
the reality is, that there’s two things to realize: 1) the industry is fucked up. it always has been the traditional ways of ‘making it’ don’t exist anymore. and 2) you can control your definition of ‘making it.’ i have no aspirations of being on BET or MTV. i can still have a career. i can still travel. i can still pay my bills. i can still have a life (a wife, a baby, backyard, dogs and whatever else thing i may want).
i guess the real response to a new year is to push myself harder. and embrace all of the uncertainty. embrace the chaos because that’s what life is about. life isn’t about living in a cubicle, going home and watching ‘law and order: svu’. if that describes your life, i’m sorry, i’m not judging. and if you’re happy with that, so be it. but if you’re not happy with it, what are you going to do about it? -PJ
it’s hard to complain about the music industry when’s there’s so many dope ass indy artists putting out great music, and on top of that free music. j*davey has been in my ipod for the past couple of years.
after inking a deal with WB i was convinced that it would be what they finally needed: a major album offering to a public feening for their sound. unfortunately WB hasn’t put it out yet (sup, tick?) but luckily that doesn’t stop them from putting out great shit. this is free courtesy of j*davey on bandcamp. something else to put in your ipod while you’re driving to your out of town NYE party. ch’uuch!
‘tronic’ came out in 2008 and personally i believe it’s the best album for the past two years. this man basically took the spirit of dilla and ran with it. he announced last week that he’s going to come out with a new album appropriately titled ‘album of the year’ due out for 2010. he also leaked a song off the project called ‘keep going’. i heard this on christmas day and figured a bunch of folks had already posted this, but it’s been in constant rotation for me, so i don’t wanna deprive anyone that hasn’t heard it. enjoy.
